What The Cast Of Labyrinth Looks Like Today

Jim Henson's 1986 film "Labyrinth" is a deeply beloved classic among kids of a certain age. It presents the raw sexuality of David Bowie, playing a sexy goblin lord in tights, his bulging package kickstarting millions of kids' puberties. At the beginning of the film, the main character, the 16-year-old Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) wants nothing more than to live in a fantasy world, happy to remain in her pretty-princess phase indefinitely. However, when Bowie's goblin king kidnaps her baby brother Toby (Toby Froud), she learns that living in such a world is wild and off-putting. Most of the film is a random, light adventure, but one scene points out that Sarah is unduly clinging onto her childhood trinkets.

She learns the lesson of I Corinthians 13:11. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

But at the very end of the film, after Sarah has rescued Toby from the Goblin King and returned to her bedroom back on Earth, she is told she can summon her fantasy friends anytime. She has to put away her childish things, but then is allowed to take them out again on a whim. It's no wonder that Millennials gravitated toward the movie; it was a generation that deliberately used fantasy as a post-9/11 coping mechanism. Many people in their late 30s now attend "Labyrinth"-themed balls.

The film, however, feels more free-form and loose than what is described above. Terry Jones of Monty Python wrote the screenplay, and he didn't have a good sense of pacing or theme. The movie is more of a picaresque adventure than an essay. And millions adore it.

Bowie passed away in 2016, but the rest of the cast is still with us, and many of them are still performing. Here's what they're up to in 2024.

"Labyrinth" was only Jennifer Connelly's fourth credited film performance, having previously appeared in "Once Upon a Time in America," the bug-themed Dario Argento thriller "Phenomena" (a.k.a. "Creepers"), and "Seven Minutes in Heaven." She worked persistently into adulthood, becoming the crush object of millions after her films "The Hot Spot" (1990) and "Career Opportunities" (1991). She went on to appear in a variety of Hollywood films (including "The Rocketeer," "Higher Learning," and "Mulholland Falls") and was utterly dazzling in the awesome sci-fi freakout "Dark City."

Connelly was typically asked to play girlfriends and femme fatales during this phase of her career, so her acting range was, sadly, never tested. Subsequently, some found her performance in Darren Aronofsky's "Requiem For a Dream" (2000) to be a revelation, and she would later go on to win an Academy Award for her performance in Ron Howard's "A Beautiful Mind." Her career has continued apace with its variety ever since, with Connelly appearing in horror duds like "Dark Water" but also soulful indie dramas like "Reservation Road." In 2014, she re-teamed with Aronofsky for his gonzo Biblical epic "Noah," and would later turn up in the ridiculous 2019 would-be blockbuster "Alita: Battle Angel." 

More recently, Connelly appeared in "Top Gun: Maverick," one of the most successful and acclaimed films of its year. She is currently starring in the Apple TV+ sci-fi series "Dark Matter" and has enjoyed a long career in the public eye. Her creative ventures are easy to keep track of.

Toby Froud is the son of puppeteer and designer Wendy Fround and Brian Froud, the concept designer for both "Labyrinth" and Jim Henson's other '80s fantasy film, "The Dark Crystal." Toby was only a baby when he appeared in "Labyrinth," although he appeared on camera a lot. Froud likely doesn't remember his time on set, but he at least has a filmed record of appearing onscreen with David Bowie.

Thanks to his parents, Froud began working in special effects and puppetry as a young man, serving as an apprentice in Jim Henson's Muppet Workshop in 1999. His first professional gig came in 2005 when he was hired as a sculptor and designer by the Weta Workshop to make creatures for "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." He eventually became a regular employee of Laika, the stop-motion animation studio, and he worked on its films "ParaNorman," "The Boxtrolls," "Kubo and the Two Strings," and "Missing Link." He also made puppets for the Academy Award-winning 2022 stop-motion film "Pinocchio."

In what was a family legacy, Froud was hired as a design consultant for the short-lived Netflix prequel series "The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance," likely to comment on his father's work from the original feature. In 2014, Froud wrote and directed his own short film, "Lessons Learned," and he executive produced the 2017 fantasy film "Yamasong: March of the Hallows." It seems that he has spent his whole life, from infancy until age 40, living among puppets and monsters. Not an unpleasant career.

Sarah's father and stepmother don't play a huge role in "Labyrinth," only appearing at the beginning of the film to let Sarah know they'll be going out for the evening, and that she has to babysit her baby brother when she would rather be cavorting in a glade writing angsty poems. The stepmother character, Irene, is merely a little snippy with Sarah, although her status as a stepmother implies some sort of familial drama; Sarah's mother is divorced, dead, or missing. The screenplay doesn't delve into any of that.

Irene is played by Canadian actor Shelley Thompson, who has spent the bulk of her career on stage. Fans of the silly Canadian comedy series "Trailer Park Boys" will know her as Barb Lahey, a character she played in 85 episodes of the original show and in all of the "Boys" TV specials. Thompson is constantly busy, playing voice roles in animated shows and video games, and appearing in dozens of short films. She has also been in multiple low-budget indie films and soulful dramas, including, most recently, "The Good House" with Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline.

Thompson made her feature film directorial debut with "Dawn, Her Dad & the Tractor" in 2021.

Brian Henson, the son of "Labyrinth" director Jim Henson, also followed in the family puppeteering business, starting his professional career in 1981 with "The Great Muppet Caper" (which was similarly directed by his father). Henson also voiced and puppeteered the mild-mannered Jack Pumpkinhead in the scary kid flick "Return to Oz" and served as an animatronic puppeteer for "Santa Claus: The Movie." In 1986, director Frank Oz (also a Muppet performer) hired Henson to serve as one of the chief puppeteers for Audrey II in the incredible musical film "Little Shop of Horrors."

To play Hoggle in "Labyrinth," Henson voiced the character off-camera while manipulating the animatronic Hoggle mouth using a remote hand-mounted rig. An actor named Shari Weiser played Hoggle on camera, with additional puppeteers manipulating Hoggle's eyes and other facial features. Hoggle, then, was played by a whole team of people.

Henson would continue to work on puppet projects after that, including 1990's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles" and Nicolas Roeg's "The Witches." That same year, Jim Henson died, and Brian became something of a secondary leader of the Muppet franchise. Brian Henson subsequently directed the crackerjack 1990s Muppet movies "The Muppet Christmas Carol" and "Muppet Treasure Island." He also helmed the lambasted-but-whimsical "The Happytime Murders" in 2018.

The arrogant, foxlike Sir Didymus was puppeteered by longtime Muppet performer Dave Goelz, but was voiced by Dave Shaughnessy, an English actor perhaps best known for his voice work. He has been acting professionally since the late 1970s (back when he appeared in many local stage productions) and made his screen debut in 1979, playing a doctor in the British war series "Danger UXB." Throughout the 1980s, he appeared in numerous BBC programmes like "Minder" and "The Clairvoyant" before starring in "Labyrinth." Shortly thereafter, Shaughnessy landed a gig playing one of the titular pirates in the underrated animated series "Fox's Peter Pan and the Pirates."

As a director, Shaughenssy was a stalwart soap opera handler, having helmed episodes of "Santa Barbara" (three episodes), "The Bold and the Beautiful" (254 episodes), "The Young and the Restless" (13 episodes), and "Days of Our Lives" (90 episodes and counting). Directing came to constitute the bulk of his career, with acting becoming a secondary pursuit. His directing has won him four Emmys.

In the mid-2000s, Shaugnessy returned to voice acting and proceeded to appear in dozens of video games and animated shows, including "Big Hero 6," as well as "Star Wars" and Marvel shows, playing various characters in each. He portrayed Drell and Narvin in "Star Wars: Resistance" and Ulysses Klaue in "Avengers Assemble."

The tall and strong Ron Mueck played the gentle sasquatch-like character Ludo in "Labyrinth," which required him to wear a massive, heavy monster costume that put constant strain on his body. Nevertheless, he still managed to give Ludo's voice and body a believable heft. Indeed, Ludo may be the best puppet in the film. 

Mueck, however, is not known for acting, having only racked up a few credits to his name. In addition to "Labyrinth," Mueck played a storyteller in "The Tale of the Bunny Picnic" and the Gryphon in the 1985 "Alice in Wonderland" update "Dreamchild." 

Mostly, Mueck is known for his striking and acclaimed hyperrealistic sculptures. He has made outsize skulls, 16-foot children, and a notably large woman in bed. His works have been featured in museums all over the world and is currently being exhibited in the Museum Voorlinden in Wassenaar in the Netherlands. Th exhibition features his sculptures "Mass," "Big Baby II," and "Man in Blankets." Mueck sculpts from his personal memories, so his work feels deeply intimate. Any Dutch readers should seek his artwork out.